²⁸ “Come to me,^(A) all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.^{(B) 29} Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,^(C) for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.^{(D) 30} For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”^(E)

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath^(F)(G)

12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain^(H) and eat them. ² When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”^(I)

³ He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?^{(J) 4} He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.^{(K) 5} Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath^(L) and yet are innocent? ⁶ I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.^{(M) 7} If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’^[a](N) you would not have condemned the innocent. ⁸ For the Son of Man^(O) is Lord of the Sabbath.”

⁹ Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, ¹⁰ and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus,^(P) they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”^(Q)

¹¹ He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?^{(R) 12} How much more valuable is a person than a sheep!^(S) Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

¹³ Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. ¹⁴ But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.^(T)

A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God

4 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.^{(A) 2} For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.^{[a](B) 3} Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. ⁴ For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.”^{[c](D) 5} And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”^(E)

⁶ Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience,^{(F) 7} God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest,^(H) God would not have spoken^(I) later about another day. ⁹ There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; ¹⁰ for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,^[e](J) just as God did from his.^{(K) 11} Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.^(L)